7/30/07

When our family started this blog we decided it would act as a journal for our family. With that being said not all journal entries are happy and positive, however when looked at it the right frame of mind they can help teach and mold us into the individuals that our Heavenly Father wants us to be. Back in the days of Toro Football, we had to memorize a saying, “Fire melts wax, hardens steel” The application meaning adversity or trials separate the week from the strong. Well, our family has dealt with our share of adversity lately that has tested our strength. We fully recognize the importance and even acknowledge the fact that trials are a part of our Heavenly Father’s plan, and indeed are blessings in disguise. Lately just when we have found our selves thinking the sun is starting to shine again more trials present themselves. It has been tough yet as our family looks back over the past few months we are realizing even more how much our Father in Heaven knows us and is very involved in our growth as sons and daughters. Last night we spent several hours in the ER dealing with unexplainable complications involving Alysen’s pregnancy. In the beginning the doctors told us that they believed that she was experiencing a tubular pregnancy, however in the end she simply miscarried. This is the second time we have experienced a miscarriage, however this time was much scarier and very different than the first. On the way home from the hospital late last night, my rock of a wife started to talk about how blessed we are and how thankful she was for this and that. I started thinking about the past few months and kept thinking “when it rains it pours” but as I was able to put things in a little better perspective I started to think very much about section 121 of the Doctrine & Covenants. This is the section where Joseph Smith pleads with the Lord regarding all the suffering and persecution. He asks the Lord where art thou and how long shall thy hand be stayed. The Lords reply is humbling, “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.” We are indeed grateful for the trials and pitfalls that life gives us and even more grateful to our wonderful friends and family that support and help us through our darkest times. I know we all have trials and hard times through out life and I pray and hope that Alysen and I can be the support to all of you that you have all been for us.

This is indeed crazy. We have read on everyone else’s blogs about their kids starting school. Well today was our turn. Wyatt, our precious little child started all day kindergarten! I still refuse to believe any of us are old enough to have kids in school. Wyatt was up and ready to go early this morning. His lunch packed his supplies ready, he could barely control himself. Dane made sure he could go in late to work so that he would not miss a single moment of this exciting event. To be honest I think Dane is having a tougher time than I am. He does not let go of things very well and is very sentimental. He remembers all the important dates and all the little details that other men always forget. Lots of our friends say that he is the wife in our family. Anyway, our little boy is going to school!

7/27/07

Dane is going to kill me for this one. Our kids have really gotten into the Disney Channel Movie “High School Musical.” The funny thing is so has daddy. Dane really honestly enjoys it, I don’t exactly understand it but he likes it. The kids and Dane sing the songs all the time. Dane will start a song and Wyatt will pick it up and finish it. They think they are superstars or something. Actually it is always enjoyable to see and hear happy voices, even though this one is pretty strange. Dane even knows that Friday August 17th is when High School Musical 2 premiers on TV. He is even planning a party for the kids (more for him I think) that evening to watch the movie. So last night, Dane decided that because school starts next week, and we will have to abide by some sort of bedtime, we should have a movie night and watch High School Musical. Of course all the kids were thrilled and quickly got ready for bed and plopped themselves down on the couch next to me. It is the funniest thing to watch Dane sing along to this little kid’s movie. I will try and catch Dane singing on tape and post for all to see. I must admit it is a cute movie just not one I would have thought Dane would watch let alone like. We really had a fun night, but now that the secret is out!

We did the summer movies at Hearkins for the 4th year in a row. Because school starts on Monday, we will miss the final movie next week. The kids have loved seeing all the different movies in the theater. Each week they load up their backpacks with all their treats and off we go. It seems very strange but with school starting and the summer movies over it almost marks an end to summer, but it is still July!

7/24/07

Our beloved bishop is a chocolate aholic. His office has a 3 gallon jar of assorted mini candy bars, a half gallon jar of M&M’s and a backup cupboard full of enough candy to fill both jars three or four times. Needless to say the kids and youth love his office. We missed church on Sunday due to Dane taking care of our sick family. With the guilt getting the best of him, and an obvious case of boredom, Dane took Jesse down to make sure he was not needed and that all his responsibilities were taken care of. Jesse knows the Bishops office well; he goes down there with dad often and in very aware of exactly where the candy is kept. Now Jesse usually asks both Dane and Bishop if he can have some candy. This time was no different, but while Dane was tying up his loose ends, Jesse gave in to the temptations and stuffed his pockets with chocolate. One their way home, Jesse proceeded to stuff his face with as many of the chocolates as he possible could. Keep in mind he stuffed these in his pocket and who knows how long they were their for. By the time he got to them in the car and proceeded to eat as fast as he could before he was exposed we had major meltage. When Dane got home all we could do was laugh, for the mess was already made.

Last Thursday, I got a number of calls from Alysen stating she was not feeling well. She has never been sick with any of our kids (no morning sickness at all) but was thinking that this one might have got us. Now Alysen is not a complainer at all, so when she says that she needs me I know its time to drop what I’m doing and respond. I took off Friday to play Mr. Mom and help Alysen however I could. I have once again renewed my faith and love for all of you stay at home moms out there, especially Alysen. You have the hardest job I could ever imagine. It turns out Alysen had the beginning stage of Strep. Now the worst part about Alysen when she is sick and especially when she is pregnant is that her since of smell kicks into high gear. On Thursday night I spent all night cleaning, sweeping, mopping, and disinfecting the entire house so there would be no funny smells to bother her. On Friday, when I was not waiting on Alysen every need, I spent my entire day trying to keep the kids from messing up the house I spent so much time cleaning. There must be a secret to this, because I do not think it is possible at this point. How do you moms do it? Finally I decided it was a winless battle and I would just wait until the kidos went to bed then I would clean again. Well Friday night Wyatt decided it was his turn to get sick. Now Alysen is easy and even fun to serve and help, but Wyatt he is a piece of work. He plays the sick card better or worse than any one I have ever seen. By Saturday morning I was ready to ship him out. Anyway after a long weekend no church on Sunday, Alysen is better and released and sent me off to work. I have never been so happy to go to work in my life. To all you Moms who never get enough praise for what the world thinks you don’t do. Thank you VERY MUCH, and to Alysen I love you, don’t get sick ever again.

This is what the kitchen looked like most of the weekend, but i did clean, sweep, and mop every night.

7/19/07

On July 14th our daddy turned 31 years old. Can you believe it what an old man? To celebrate we went out to see Oceans 13. We have really become fans of the Oceans movies and really enjoyed this one as well; we would recommend it for a good date night, but not for the kids.

Anyway after the movie we returned to our house for dinner with all the Chaffee’s. This is the last time we would all be together for a while as Lafe, Lacy, and Stetson have already left for Cleveland, and Lee has returned to Philadelphia. Mom took care of dinner, it was fabulous. We had some sort of southern sea food pot. It starts with many ears of corn, small red potatoes, onions, and lots of southern seasoning along with garlic, salt & pepper all boiled in water. Next you add sausage, shrimp, scallops, and crab legs. When it is all done, mom strained off the water and poured the goods right into the middle of the table for eating. Wow so very good (but messy). We had a great evening with all the family and toped it off with home made ice cream and of course a choir of happy birthday for our daddy Dane.

Alysen put on an amazing FHE for us. She had a real life to scale drawing of Goliath that was taped to the wall. The boys were very impressed at the size of Goliath. In fact having heard the story so many times it even brought a different perspective to me seeing the size, I would have been a little intimidated going to battle against him. What great faith David had. Anyway she told the story and we all marveled at the size and then we got to fling little marshmallow at the guy. The kids loved it and I must admit so did I. We would soak the marshmallow in water to get them sticky, and then fling them at the giant with a plastic spoon. It really brought the entire story to life for our kids. I have a truly amazing wife. We are very lucky to have such an amazing mother and wife and mother

Gracie has finally started to show interest in girly things. She is almost 2 and has developed a rather large interest in shoes and dolls. The other day we found her putting her doll down for a nap. It was so funny to watch as she did EVERYTHING that we parents do. We had to capture it with photos; I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

7/12/07

Child Praying"Our Father, Who does art in heaven,Harold is His name."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Child Praying"Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.I'm having a real good time like I am."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~After the christening of his baby brother in church,a boy sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.His father asked him three times what was wrong.Finally, the boy replied,"That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home,and I wanted to stay with you guys."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Child Praying"And forgive us our trash basketsas we forgive those who put trash in our baskets."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A Sunday school teacher asked her kids"And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?"One bright little girl replied,"Because people are sleeping."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons.

The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson."If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'The older boy turned to his younger brother and said,you be Jesus!"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A father was at the beach with his childrenwhen the four-year-old son ran up to him,grabbed his hand, and led him to the shorewhere a seagull lay dead in the sand."Daddy, what happened to him?" the son asked."He died and went to Heaven," the Dad replied.The boy thought a moment and then said,"Did God throw him back down?"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A wife invited some people to dinner.At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,"Would you like to say the blessing?""I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied."Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered.The daughter bowed her head and said,"Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

7/10/07

We received Wyatt’s boundary exception for school starting this fall. Yeh! He will be in all day kindergarten, wow where does all the time go. Dane came home from work yesterday and informed me that he received permission to go in late for work on July 30th. I could not figure out why so I finally asked him why he needed to go in late on that day. He said in a rather grumpy voice, “I can’t believe you don’t remember that is Wyatt’s first day of real school.” I guess dad is having separation anxiety. Anyway, they do grow up so fast, I hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as we do. We sure love our little buster Wyatt. (Especially Dad I guess)

Stetson is Lafe & Lacy's little boy. Since Lafe is the youngest on the Chaffee side, and Stetson has really been the only baby for a while, he has had a strangle hold on attention. Just look at how cute he is. Yes Stetson has been the most popular individual in the Chaffee family for quite some time now.

Stetson

With all that being said, Stetsons rain is over. Dane's sister Nicole delivered the newest addition on Sunday evening. Regan Genive Good has officially taken over as the attention grabber in the Chaffee family as only the newborns can. Little Regan (pronounced Ree-gan) is so precious and cute. Her rain will be short lived however as Lee & Ness are expecting a little boy in September and us of course next March!

Wow it has been a very eventful few weeks. Last time we posted we were celebrating the exciting news of baby #4! Dane was so excited and life seemed like it couldn’t get any better. We should have known better. Well that following week our Landscape Company that we have had for the past year and a half suffered a huge set back. Long story short the individual that had been running the company abruptly left one morning and took equipment, tools, and clients with him. Huge mess. Dane went from happy and excited to very down and depressed. Needless to say, this individual that we had trusted and loved really left us in a very tough and hard spot. It has been very hard on our family, but with prayer and faith in our Father in Heaven we are making it through this ordeal. We have appreciated everyone’s support and prayers; the light is indeed starting to shine at the end of the tunnel, hopefully. The refiner’s fire is very hot and uncomfortable, but we are coming out of this stronger!

7/3/07

This week we are on vacation with the Chaffee part of the family. Lee and Ness are in for the summer from dental school. Lafe and Lacy leave for dental school in two weeks, Dan and Nicole have not decided where they might be, so this may be the last time in a while we all get to get together. There will be 10 adults and 9 grand kids ( 3 pregnant moms). We hope things don't unfold like our last vacation, Dane has promised to be on his best behavior. Look forward to catching up when we get back, we will have lots of pictures.